Sensations of pain and associated feelings of anxiety can be attributed to numerous physiological and psychological dysfunctions. Pain and anxiety can be adaptive neurological sensations which perform a protective function by warning the individual of possible biological threat or harm from the environment.
There exist also neurologically originated sensations of pain and anxiety which do not perform adaptive warning functions. For example, the withdrawal period from chemical dependence, alcoholism and habitual smoking are characterized by significant pain and anxiety as the body attempts to return its endogenous neural transmitter levels back to homeostasis. Other conditions which are sometimes characterized by periodic, neurologically dependent pain and anxiety of this type include obesity, dieting, impotency, depression, temporo-mandibular-joint (TMJ) syndrome and migraine headache.
The most common method of treating pain and anxiety is pharmacological, through use of bioactive chemical agents such as narcotics, sedatives and analgesics. The problem with chemical therapy is its non-specific, generalized nature which results in numerous side effects. Drawbacks to repeated and continuous drug ingestion or infusion include toxicity, allergic reactions and chemical dependence.
In view of the problems associated with pharmacological treatments, efforts have been made to discover non-chemical approaches to alleviate pain and anxiety. One approach is the use of bipolar, electrical stimulators such as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,109,847 issued to Saul Liss et al., the teachings of which are incorporated by reference herein. Such electric stimulators alter the levels of neurotransmitters such as ACTH, cortisol, dopamine, beta-endorphins, GABA and serotonin, which are associated with transmission of pain sensations and other neurophysiological functions.
Certain types of pain or anxiety can be effectively modulated by non-chemically altering the transmission of electrical signals relating to perceptions of pain or anxiety between specific nodes of a particular neurological pathway. Many such specific pathways and nodes have been anatomically mapped and are known to be distributed throughout an individual's body. These pathways can transmit signals and corresponding neural responses such as those associated with pain or those which perform control functions such as signals from the viscera indicating a hunger sensation.
One example of such a network of nodes are those located on or proximate the ear referred to herein as the auricular plexus or known otherwise in the art as auricular points. Specific forms of pain or anxiety are effectively modulated by transmission of electrical signals along the network of nodes associated with the auricular plexus.
Multiple auricular points are associated with the tenth and longest cranial nerve (also called the vagus nerve) which anatomically connects through the neck, thorax and abdominal regions, and extends upward into the cervical region and downward into the larynx and pharynx supplying sensations from these regions to the central nervous system. The vagus nerve also supplies motor signals to the vocal chord muscles, and motor and secretory impulses to the abdominal and thoracic viscera.
Surprisingly, dysfunctions such as continuous urges to eat, smoke or drink alcohol, impotency or unexplained depressions can all be improved through introduction of electrical signals along the neurological pathways associated with auricular points, as will be described in detail hereinbelow. These empirical observations have led to the conclusion that maladaptive behaviours such as obesity, inability to maintain a controlled diet, impotency and depression may all have, in part, an etiology related to dysfunction of neural pathways.
There is a need in the art for an effective, non-chemical method and apparatus for preventing messages related to pain or anxiety from flowing between specific nodes of a particular neurological pathway such as those associated with the multiple auricular points, and for correcting dysfunctional transmissions of electrical signals along neurological pathways associated with such auricular points.
Currently known electrical devices and methodology are designed with signal generating circuits fed by relatively high voltage supplies (such as between about 27 to about 40 volts) and use relatively larger diameter contacts (about 1.75 inches) resulting in low current density therapy. For application to auricular points, there is a need for an electrical stimulator for ameliorating neural pathway anomalies, which can be operated from a signal generating circuit fed from a relatively low voltage source which provides all of the conveniences associated with the reduced voltage operation.